Roguelike Radio podcast

[Darren Grey]

New episode out - focusing on Randomness in game mechanics: http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2017/03/episode-134-randomness.html

[Krice]

That episode was confusing. But I think there is one thing about randomness which is important and it's that roguelikes are not that random after all. The rules that determine random generation are often quite rigid, and variations within certain limits. That's why when people are thinking that roguelikes are "easy" to create because they are "randomly generated" they step into a big trap.

[Darren Grey]

Not sure you got the point? It's not about random generation, it's about random mechanics. A weapon does 1d6 damage, you have a 80% chance to hit an enemy, loot is randomly generated from a table, an AI has a 1 in 5 chance of executing a certain action, etc.

This applies to all sorts of games, not just roguelikes, but for roguelikes it's quite important for tactical decision-making and the feeling of fairness.

[Krice]

loot is randomly generated

Well for that stuff you also have rules so it's not that random. Loot is often restricted to "generic" items which itself is the underlying design of the game. I'm thinking this is more a problem in high fantasy where everything is amplified to extremes.

[Darren Grey]

Well for that stuff you also have rules so it's not that random.

Depends on the game. In some games it feels like you win or lose based on what loot you find. In others it feels fairly balanced, but perhaps also less exciting. How you implement and constrain the randomness has a big impact on the game.

[owen]

Good episode.  I made a comment about "Good, Bad, and Ugly" forms of randomness.  My thesis is that randomness is best used when its effects are not immediately evident.  And while it's not possible to get rid of every situation where the player has to roll a 6 to live, the game designer should do as best as he can to give the player opportunities to avoid such situations.

[Darren Grey]

New episode looking at some of the 7DRL highlights:

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2017/04/episode-135-7drls-2017.html

[Krice]

Think I'm going to pass this one. I would probably just get angry listening about all those great ideas and 7DRLs no one is actually playing, and start to drink.

[Avagart]

I started to check older episodes of Roguelike Radio, and just found out that the first episode is missing from server. Is it possible to reupload it?

[Darren Grey]

I started to check older episodes of Roguelike Radio, and just found out that the first episode is missing from server. Is it possible to reupload it?

Sorry, had a wrong link on the blog post. It's fixed now!

Two new episodes recently:

Ep 136: MidBoss, a roguelike centred around possessing enemies
Ep 137: Procedural Generation in Game Design, a new book on PCG with various roguelike developers contributing

[Krice]

What is wrong with Eniko's voice?

[AgingMinotaur]

It's just his voice, man. Go read Hávamál verse 27 or something.

As always,
Minotauros

[Krice]

It's just his voice, man.

His? I thought he was she. Well, you never know these days. Sounded like something is wrong anyway, I hope it's nothing bad.

[getter77]

Nah, that's just her voice---it is neat~   

[AgingMinotaur]

Ops, I really botched that one.  If anyone's looking, I'll be in my room reading that verse from Hávamál.

As always,
Minotauros